Redondo Beach resident Angela Hoover put aside her ambitions to be a stand-up comedian to raise two children, but that was until she auditioned for the eighth season of “America’s Got Talent” and made it past the first round on the show’s season premiere.

Hoover has spent the last 10 years, off and on, trying to build a name in the comedy world, performing at various clubs in Los Angeles.

But a 90-second set on NBC’s top-rated reality competition show might be the key to the 42-year-old’s dream.

Now, Hoover’s future lands in Las Vegas, where she will find out if she is one of the finalists heading to Radio City Music Hall in New York City for a chance for $1 million and a Las Vegas show. Hoover will appear in episodes airing Tuesday and Wednesday.

When judges Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B gave her a thumbs up, “I did feel like I had this huge, collective exhale in my life,” Hoover said. “I wasn’t sure if this ship had sailed. I did take a lot of time off and I’m glad that I did because my kids are the most important thing, making sure they are OK.

“But in the back of my mind, I thought, ‘Gosh, I really thought I would make it farther in this thing.’ I always thought I was supposed … to entertain people and make them laugh. So to be actually standing on that stage at this time in my life and get that kind of response, it is indescribable. I really felt I was dreaming for about three days.”

Hoover auditioned in April at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles at an open call in front of more than 2,000 people. Her husband, Steve, was there, as well as her mother and friends, but her 7-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son couldn’t make it because they were sick. She said it was a long day waiting, but the biggest challenge was putting the set together.

“I’m notorious for changing my act a hundred times in three weeks right up to the minute I perform,” Hoover said. “I think that was the most nerve-wracking thing.”

It was also nerve-wracking backstage.

“You have a producer that’s talking to you before you go on stage to make sure you know what you’re doing and (telling you) that buzzers are going to be loud and if you get an X you’ve got to keep moving,” Hoover said.

Once she got on stage and did her comedy and impressions, she was “OK.”

“But it was a surreal experience to have Howard Stern say your name back to you, that was sort of an out-of-body experience for me,” Hoover said. “I’m used to watching the show, never thinking I would be on it.”

Born in Philadelphia, Hoover moved constantly with her family while her father searched for a better life.

“That’s when I think I started picking up other people’s accents and mannerisms,” she said. “When I came home, my mother used to say, ‘Oh Angie, don’t talk like Sherry. Just talk like yourself.’

“I couldn’t help it. It was so much fun to talk like someone else. I’ve always been fascinated by other people, how they live their life, how they walk and what they do. It’s always been an interest to me.”

Whatever happens in the next round, Hoover said, being on “America’s Got Talent” has given her a new lease on life when it comes to her comedy career.

“I think it stretches you … what you’ve already been doing, but at a higher echelon,” she said. “I’m taking this opportunity and taking it one step at a time, but hopefully rise to the occasion no matter what happens.